Toilet tissue dispenser with storage rack



p 1957 E. R. WOLTERS 2,805,030

TOILET TISSUE DISPENSER WITH STORAGE RACK Filed Dec. 10. 1954 2 sheets-she t 1 f 48 e 3 4e 32 Q 7 IN V EN TOR.

Evian-1- awourms ATTOQN EYS Sept. 1957 E. R. WOLTERS 2,805,030

TOILET TISSUE DISPENSER WITH STORAGE RACK Filed Dec. 10. 1.954

2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JNVENTOR. Evens-n- EWOLTERS 48 72-971mm: w flan Q2072,

AT O 2 k) EYS United States Paten-t- I TOILET N This invention relates to a toilet tissue roll holder or dispenser. More particularly, the invention has reference to a dispenser of the type stated in-which a pair of side by side rolls of tissue is provided, so that on depletion of one roll, a reserve roll will be ready for use.

Summarized briefly, the invention comprises a holder mountable upon awall and partitioned to includeseparate, adjacent spaces for the two-rolls. 'Ihe rolls are rotatable independently of one another and are separately inserted or removed. A transparent cover is mounted upon the back plateof the device, and is-slidable in either direction thereon to enclose one or the other of the spaces. I

An important object ofthe present inventionis to providea holder as stated whichwill at all times permit ready observation of the extent to which one orthe other of; the rolls is depleted, thus to permit replacement of a completely depleted roll before depletion of the reserve roll;--

Another object is to so form and arrange the transparent cover as to defer use of the reserve roll until the exposed or uncovered roll is fully depleted,the cover being, however, readily shiftable to the opposite limit of its movement to expose the reserve roll and permit use thereof, after which the reserve roll becomes the roll in-use pending insertion of a new roll in substitution for the one that has been depleted.

- Another object'is-to provide-a dispenser as statedwhich will be attractive in-appearance,--will be readily mountable either upon an ordinary wall surface or one having a recess to receive the dispenser,--andwi1l be capableof manufacture at low costconsidering the advantages to be derived from the use thereof.

Other objects will appear from the following description, the claims appended thereto, and from the annexed drawing, in which like reference characters designate like parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a dispenser according to the invention; 1

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a transverse sectional view on line 3-3 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a longitudinal sectional view on line 44 of Figure 2;

Figure 5 is a perspective view of a modification adapted for mounting in a wall recess; and

Figure 6 is a transverse sectional view, on scale, on line 66 of Figure 5.

The toilet tissue roll holder or dispenser according to the invention includes a support frame generally desig nated 10 moldable from a single piece of plastic material. Frame 10 includes a rectangular, vertically disposed back or base plate 12 having screw-receiving, longitudinally spaced, horizontally extending slots 14 to facilitate its mounting upon an associated wall surface. Integrally formed upon and extending the length of the top edge of the base plate is an upper longitudinal flange 16 an enlarged at'ed guide strips. guide grooves, andsince the" guide wgrooves extendcan 2,8fi5fi30 Patented Sept. 3, T957 2 projecting forwardly out of the'plane' of the base'plate, and similarly formed upon the'bottom edge ofthe base plate is alongitudinal bottom flange '18. The underside of thejtop flange, and the. upper surfaceof the bottom flange, are formed with guide grooves 20, 22 respectively (Figure 3). Integral'with .the opposite endsof and pro:- jecting forwardly from the base plate are-end'plates 24, 26 having arcuately shaped forward edges formed through out their lengths with-inwardly projecting flanges 28; 30 -respectively,merging at their ends into theends of the top and bottom flanges 16, 18.: i: .7: .rsr mDisposed medially between the; end plates 24, 26; i&;3. center partition 32, the-edge of whichis arcuately formed correspondingly. to the .outer orforward,- edges of the .end plates. However, for'a p'urpose to be madeapparent, the edge ofthe partition. is offset inwardly toa slight extent relative to the registering edges of the end plates. The partition is also integral with theyback plate,v and cooperates with'the end plates in defining, at opposite sides of thejpartition, spacesadapted to receive rollsof tissue R. -,Extending in coaxial alignment across the roll spaces are shafts v34-, 36 removably seated at their ends, in U.- shaped bearing members 38, 40, 42, 44 secured to the end plates'and-center. partition as shown tobest advantage in Figure 2. The bearing members are identical to one another, and preferably, to-insure against the shafts 34acci'ctentally moving out of .the bearing recesses, the;puter leg .45 of each bearing member. is longer than 'the:inner leg (seeFigure 6). ."I'fEiXCdlY secured tolthe back plate, in closely. spaced, parallel relation to the top. and bottom flanges 16, 18, are uppen guide strips 46,48 and lowerguide strips 50, 52. The upper guide stripsarelongitudinally aligned,.and.ar e closely spaced fromand parallelto the top flange, while the bottom guide; strips are similarly disposed inrespect to one another andgtodhe bottom flange. The several ,guide strips have. longitudinal grooves confronting .the

gi'ooves 20, 22, and each guide strip extends the length of the space within which it is disposed, A transpar ent cover 54- isarcuately curved in correp e ce w the xva 'reo'f t .e sotth udp ata and R iti ,..and tts o p e, n ud na edges i formed with beads 56 .enga'geable in the guide, grooves defin'edbetween the top and bottom flanges and their associ- The; cover is freely slidable with the tinuously from end to end. of the device, with the cover being formed to a length equal to the length of each roll space, the cover can be shifted back and forth to cover a selected space while exposing the other space. In other words, two rolls of toilet tissue can be mounted upon the device, and the cover can be positioned to enclose one of them; This will deter use of the roll, until the other roll is depleted. Thereafter, one can slidably adjust the cover to its opposite extreme position, to expose the reserve roll. In this way, a situation in which one having need of the toilet tissue finds the roll to be completely depleted is avoided. The use of the transparent cover, of course, permits a visual observation of the condition of both rolls, so that there will at all times be a reserveroll ready for use.

It is to be noted that the center partition serves to maintain the curvature of the cover, so that the cover can be made of thin, flexible plastic. This is true in every position of the-cover, as well as during movement of the cover between the limits of its adjustment.

As particularly well shown in Figures 1 and 2, the offsetting of the edge of the partition 32 inwardly to a slight extent relative to the edges of the end plates has the effect of confining the partition wholly in the spaces between the guide grooves, and of disposing the end plates in positions 3 across the ends of the guide grooves toprovide abutments at said ends of the grooves. Further, the arrangement results in the end plates extending as abutments in the path of slidable movement of the cover, for abut-ting ofi the vcover against the end plates at opposite ends of the travel of the cover longitudinally of the back plate. Still further, theconstruction wherein the center parfiition is so. formed as to maintain the curvature of the cover produces. its desired result due to the fact (see Figure 1) that the ,cover slidably contacts the partition over sub-. stantially thefull widthof the cover in all positions of cog/er. This latter characteristic may be further observed by reference to Figure 2, in which it is seen that the cover, at one extreme position thereof, extends at one end into the plane of the center partition 32. Since this is. so, the cover will be slidably contacted by the partition throughout the range of movement of the cover betweenits opposite extreme positions so that the characteristic of, the center partition, whereby it holds the thin, flexible; plastic cover against deformation, is present at all times, including times when the cover is in movement.

In Fig res 5 and .6, there is shown a modification in which all parts are identical to. those previously described, except that the slots 14 may be omitted. The construction shown in these figures is adapted for mounting in a recess of a wall surface, and to this end, a rectangular mounting plate having a center opening through which the end plates and partition project is fixedly secured to the end plates, intermediate the front and rear edges of the end plates, in a vertical plane. The device can now be recessed in the wall with the mounting plate 58 engaged against the wall.

It is believed apparent that the invention is not necessarily confined to the specific use or uses thereof described above, since it maybe utilized for any purpose to which it may be suited. Nor is the invention to be necessarily limited to the specific construction as it is only intended to 'be illustrative of the principles, it beingconsidered thatthe invention comprehends any minor changein construction that may be permitted within the scope of the appended claims.

Wh t c aim d is:

11, A holder fora pair of. t ile tissue 9115v 'cmnrtisins a r ctan u a tica l di nossd' a k P ate ncl d ng eri- Zo t flv bx en'd s t p a b tt m flan aid fl nges .rizitend hs t e fu le gth of e a k t lat g, an pl nr i c i s' rcm posit e ds the qlspla e in t a Please rtica Parti ion P QlQQi QE orwardly has:

the back plate medially between the end plates to define, in cooperation with the end plates, side by side roll spaces; means in said spaces for rotatably supporting the respective roll; guide strips secured to the back plate within the respective spaces adjacent the top and bottom flanges and cooperating with the flanges to define guide grooves; and a cover having top and bottom edges slidably engaged in the respective grooves for movement of the cover between opposite ends of the back plate into a position covering a selected one of the spaces, said cover being engaged over its full width by the partition in each osition t whi h th co e s m d- 2. A holder for a pair of toilet tissue rolls comprising an elongated back plate formed with spaced, parallel grooves extending adjacent the opposite longitudinal edges of the back plate; end plates projecting from the back plate at opposite ends of the grooves and extending transversely of the back plate across the grooves to form abutments at the ends or the grooves; a partition projecting from the back-plate medially between the respective end plates to provide roll-receiving spaces at; opposite sides of the partition, said partition extending transversely of the back plate wholly; the space between the grooves; means extending between the partition and each end plate for r'ctatahly supporting a pair of toilet tissue rolls in the respec-rive -roli-receiv in g spaces; and a transversely curved coverhaving a length at least equal to that of each rollrecei'vi-n'gspace, said cover having its opposite side edges sl'idably engaged in the respective grooves for slidable adjustment of the cover longitudinally of the back plate betweenopposite extreme positions in each of which it covers one roll-receiving space while leaving the other open, said partition being disposed wholly out of the path or sliding movement of the cover and said cover slidably contacting the partition over substantially the full width of the cover throughout the range of movement of the cover-between said extreme positions thereof, said end plates extending across the'path of the cover for abutting ofthecover against the end plates at opposite ends of the travel of the cover between its extreme positions.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

